Coriolanus | Mother-Son Relationship

In the first essay, Rufus Putney takes a psychoanalytic view of Coriolanus, emphasizing the mental drama of Coriolanus's relationship with his mother. In the second essay, Emmett Wilson, Jr. offers a psychoanalytic approach to Coriolanus, evaluating language and imagery that suggests Freudian conflicts within the play.

Coppelia Kahn has examined the juxtaposition of masculine and feminine in the play's combined imagery of nursing and war. According to Ratal's view, the ending of Coriolanus takes on an ironic tone as one realizes that Volumnia's maternal power results in the contradictions of Coriolanus's manhood and makes him an enemy of Rome, thereby bringing about his destruction. G. Wilson Knight has also focused on the relationship between the Roman matron and her son. Knight proposed that the hero's failure to recognize the value of love is the source of his tragedy and that his...

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